Firestone Alignment

[dreaMervaj]

Just as the title states; is Firestone any good at aligning our lower cars with adjustable arms?

I like the lifetime warranty idea but not sure if it's the right choice.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[ILoveMyRHS13]

I would highly recommend that you take it to a shop that knows about adjustable arms. My buddy got an alignment at a generic alignment shop and within 6 months his tires were fucked. They didn't take into account that there would be a passenger in the car so the toe was all fucked up. They have specs for stock suspension and cars.

[chituntang]

No because they will not adjust your adjustable arms.

[ILoveMyRHS13]

No because they will not adjust your adjustable arms.
That too. A lot of shops won't touch aftermarket arms due to liability issues.

[dreaMervaj]

No because they will not adjust your adjustable arms.

Okay I thought the lifetime warranty was a good thing but if they don't adjust the adjustable arms than there's no need to get an alignment there.

I guess I'll have to find a reputable shop around here soon; I know of none at the moment.

[wh0aitznic0]

Drive up to R/T Tuning in PA. You're from South Carolina, you can manage.

[ILoveMyRHS13]

R/T Tuning in PA.
R/T Tuning in PA.
R/T Tuning in PA.
R/T Tuning in PA.
R/T Tuning in PA.
You no longer have a choice.

[!Zar!]

It is impossible to say if EVERY Firestone will do a good job.

I'm positive there are a few that have mechanics that are good and take pride in what they do, while I'm positive there are others that don't give a damn and have no idea what they are doing.

Yelp.com son.

[White Comet]

+ a bunch for rt tuning. i plan on going to them for an alignment after i get arms and theyll be tuning my pfc

[MrChow]

They did do mine. But the prefect every time. If your planning to keep putting on more suspension parts there not bad. Ask them first before anything.

[Marc240]

Do not go to Firestone. A buddy of mine pay'd to get their "lifetime" alignement and he got dicked over. Before signning it wasnt verified that it was only 2 wheel alignement then whenhe got his S13 into the shop they told himthat they couldnt touch his vehicle. It was all because the aftermarket parts and they couldnt be held liable. THEN to top everything off, they wouldnt refund his money but told him that they would only transfer the work to another one of his cars.

[sincity_sil80]

thats some bogus ass $#!+!!!^^^

[iwannaslyde]

woooooowwwwwwwww.

[Bushido]

i got an alignment at tires plus.

i got buddy buddy with the tech and stood next to him while he was aligning it.

he said he wished all cars had adjustable arms because they are so much easier to adjust.

[S14DB]

Go when you car doesn't have adjustable arms and have them do it with the lifetime plan. Once they have serviced the car they can't deny you. Not all are created equal, one may be a dick to you or have a clueless service tech. But, the place across town has a great guy and they don't care what you have done.

Make sure the Firestone you go to has the alignment system where the reflectors bolt to you car. The optical systems where the beams come out of the wheel mounts get blocked and they won't be able to do your camber/caster right.

$20 in my pocket and my coil and arm spanners in the other allows me to almost do my own alignment at the place. I ask to "talk" with the tech doing my alignment. Then I get out there slip him the $20 and "show" him how to adjust the arms.

Your main obstacle is the tech. He gets a set rate(30mins/1hr) to do an alignment. He sees crazy arms and he assumes it's going to take forever to get it dialed in. A tip will get him to calm the fuck down. Sometimes even that won't work. There are over 2,200 of Firestone locations, Shop around.

[P_856]

the Firestone in my area wont even touch your car if its lowered

[KoukiMonsta]

my local firestone can align my car(slammed w/ every arm adjustable) i have that lifetime alignment thing. BUT its not firestone that can do it, its just one guy that works there who is from the whole "scene" lol so he knows whats up and can hook it up. provided i bring enough 2x4's to get on the rack

EDIT: ask around in ur area. there are people w/ cars lower than u i bet and they have to get aligned someday. so they should hook u up witht the info needed

[Prok0]

Another thing to consider with the 'lifetime' alignments is that many times they have different clauses that try to exclude modified cars..

For instance, I had my car aligned at a local sears, where I personally knew the technician, he had aligned the race cars at the shop I worked at, and was very well versed, but when I took my car back to the shop 3 months later to get re-aligned (The alignment carried a 6 month warranty) the shop manager attempted to be a giant dickhead and deny my free re-alignment. Apparently there is/was a clause in the 6 month warranty that stated it would not cover race cars.

He kept claiming my car was a race car, and finally I told him to fuck off because its obviously not a race car, I drove it there, it was tagged, titled, and insured, and that he should shut the fuck up.

I then got my free alignment and never went back..

So just read the fine print on the agreement before you have it done, or ask the manager to clarify things, because it would suck to pay the $ under the assumption you could get it realigned and not be able to.

[dreaMervaj]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I guess the best thing to do is find a reputable shop that does good alignment for lowered cars with adjustable arms.

[dreaMervaj]

Drive up to R/T Tuning in PA. You're from South Carolina, you can manage.

Thanks for the advice, thanks man.

[!Zar!]

You people trying to get lifetime alignment with adjustable arms every few months are tripping.

Don't get angry at the business, get angry at yourself.

You can't expect to take your car in every couple of months because you've added a new mod or whatever the fuck and expect them to work harder adjusting all your little bullshit AND getting your low ass car up the ramps for a one time price.

Stop being cheap fucks.

[fliprayzin240sx]

I had a buddy who worked at a Firestone and their alignment tech was good. He aligned my shit and even showed me what the hell he was doing while doing the adjustments.

My suggestion too is learn how to do your own alignment. I got a craftsman electric level with the laser point to do my alignment. Camber is cake, toe is cake, the only hard part is making sure you're not crabbing the back to the front. Thats where learning how to string the car comes in. I had to learn to do alignments since fucking alignment on this shit hole is 35,000y and with the shitty exchange rate...that comes up to over $380.

[stockbee]

The Firestone location where I live has been pretty cool, save for one guy. I left my SAFC set to absolute values and when he got back from a little test drive the rpm's were over 6800, and the throttle was at 95%---ridiculous right? So I chewed him and his boss out.

Since then however they have been cool. Told me it didn't matter what was done to my car suspension wise, they could and would handle it. Makes sense to me seeing as how every other place in town is ridiculous about it.

[XtremeS14]

I deal with a shop in Greenville, SC called Chap Racing. It is run by 2 older gentleman that are scca racers, one being an ex Michelin tire engineer. They do a very good job and have lots of experience even though my car was the first 240sx they had ever touched. They also have scales so you can corner balance your car if you have the means to do so. If your not close to Greenville you can also try Gran Turismo East in Chamblee, GA. I don't have any experience with them but plan on giving them a shot in the future as I hear they do an awesome job.

[lightsource]

I personally have my Firestone lifetime, I bought it last week and so far I've gone 3 times...

The only thing they haven't done for me is drop the car which I don't want to do because it's already too low as it is.

They also allow me to give them the numbers I want and they'll set it to that.

Not sure if Firestone is a franchise but the guy told me that I could go to any firestone and as long as my info was in the database everything would be good and they'd adjust everything for me.

EDIT: They also give you a printout with all of the adjustments that the car had previously at and then the numbers afterwards. They must've forgotten to give me the sheet but I did have it the first time I went, before I got my lifetime alignment.

[lightsource]

I had a buddy who worked at a Firestone and their alignment tech was good. He aligned my shit and even showed me what the hell he was doing while doing the adjustments.

My suggestion too is learn how to do your own alignment. I got a craftsman electric level with the laser point to do my alignment. Camber is cake, toe is cake, the only hard part is making sure you're not crabbing the back to the front. Thats where learning how to string the car comes in. I had to learn to do alignments since fucking alignment on this shit hole is 35,000y and with the shitty exchange rate...that comes up to over $380.

I'd pay you to teach me how to do that shit

[AE_Racer]

i remember sport compact car had an article a while back(prob years ago lol) on how to setup strings and the proper tools to align your own car, wish I could find it.

edit: found it, it was import tuner http://www.importtuner.com/features/0608_impp_alignment/index.html

[Def]

All you need are some cheap toe plates(google Longacre toe plates) and a $40 Craftsman laser level(the kind that looks like a 16" long bubble level but with a digital readout).

Adjust toe up front, check thrust angle in the rear by shooting the laser level mounted to the toe plate to the front wheel - make this the same on each side while adjusting your rear toe.

It takes a few iterations to get right when your car is really jacked up, but it isn't bad once it's pretty close. I can do a full alignment on my S13 in about 30-45 mins which is less time than it takes to drive some place, wait, then drive back.

[Taniguchi_Is_#1]

dudes across the country checkin' thrust angles, shootin' their laser levels all over the rear

[cyanide]

I took my S14 to a local Firestone around here. After they aligned it to my specs, they said they are banning lowered cars and cars with adjustable arms. It took them 2 hours to align it, when they said it normally takes 30 minutes to do an alignment. I warned them about this beforehand, though. Good thing they only charged me for a standard aligntment ($70).

[SoguRacing]

I work at firestone. from experience it's up to the store manager to decide what car to allow in. I'll align any car...especially if it's a slow day and it's not keeping me from flagging hours. I've spent 1.5 hours aligning a car that all sorts of added arms/adjustments. Its nice to get a tip for the added work that chit chat with the customer so you both know what's going on and they can see the adjustments as you're doing them. $20 bucks as S14DB said is not unheard of. Just bring the special tools required to do the job so you don't have to come back. also if you have it in well with the tech that did your alignment. take it there when you have some free time and request him to do your alignment even if you don't need one so he can get paid without doing adjustments haha.

[chuy]

I look for a competent worker that knows what he is doing. My local Firestone said I can come in Saturday morning, Saturday morning they say they have 2 cars in front of me. "You can leave your car with us"!!! (laughed in his face) Was told to come back at noon. The same 2 cars still there and was told again "You can leave your car with us" I walked out.

I have some Soldiers that have been there and been charged $700 for 2 tires, 25 for plugs for the tires (kept going flat). $90 for changing of spark plugs, $80 to change plug wires.

I hate them, find a Mom and Pop store so much better.

[s13 @ fullboost]

I took mine to the local college and they did it to my spec and it was free

[MelloS13]

Ive had Firestone's lifetime alignment for my S13 for almost 3 years and have not had a problem with them since. its best to watch them while they do the alignment they tend to forget to tighten the adjustment bolt, and ask for the before and after adjustments. My suspension is fully adjustable with aftermarket arms rear toe, rear camber, front caster, and front camber. They don't seem to have any problems getting the car back to factory spec. They just don't do custom alignments only stock settings. My car is lowered and don't have any problems going up the rack, but then again i don't have an aero kit =P